On matchday three of the 2024–25 Ligue 1, Lyon will take on Strasbourg at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on Friday, still looking for their first points of the year.
The visitors have won one game and drawn the other, keeping them undefeated, while the hosts have lost both of their opening two games and have not yet scored a goal.
The Kids would have hoped for a far better start to the 2024–25 season after last season's dismal start, which saw Lyon take only three points from their first nine games, the lowest opening to a campaign in their history.
After enjoying an incredible comeback in the second half of the season under Pierre Sage, who took over at the end of November and guided the team from the bottom of the table to an excellent sixth-place finish, Lyon genuinely had cause for optimism going into the new campaign.
Throughout the 22 Ligue 1 games he managed in 2023–24, Sage only lost six of them. He finished the season with 37 points out of a possible 45, which put them in fantastic shape.
Lyon would have liked their prospects of making a solid start to the season, especially after spending over £100 million on acquisitions during the summer window, but after two games, they have yet to secure a point.
They opened the season with a depressing 3-0 loss to Rennes and a 2-0 home loss to AS Monaco, which dropped them to 17th place and made them one of just four clubs without a point.
Sage will want to avoid a repeat of their terrible season-opening performance and get their first victory as soon as possible, but Lyon will face another tough challenge from Strasbourg.
Strasbourg has won all of their games in Ligue 1, including their most recent match, a 3-1 victory at home against Rennes, and a 1-1 draw with Montpellier in their inaugural match.
The team's excellent start to the season will excite new manager Liam Rosenior, who took over for Patrick Vieira in the summer, especially in light of Strasbourg's dismal preseason and bad campaign finale.
In 2023–24, the Blue-and-Whites won just one of their last five Ligue 1 games, losing the other four. They also did not win any of their seven preseason games.
This year, Rosenior will have to carry on that encouraging trend in order to raise the team back up the standings following two lackluster campaigns in which Strasbourg fought to avoid relegation.
